Heartbeats and Rain
by 1004-Angel
Summary: [Oneshot] Headcanon in which Adrien keeps bringing home random cats he finds on the street.


**Just a quick one-shot I threw together. Headcannon in which Adrien and Marinette are living together, but Adrien keeps bringing home cats that he finds on the street… I had to get it out of my system.**

 **THAT LATEST KUNG FOOD EPISODE THOUGH. *screaming***

 **Hope you enjoy!**

.o0o.

"No."

"You're not even going to think about it?"

" _No…_ Adrien, we don't have room, _or_ time."

Adrien Agreste let a tiny pout slip across his mouth, arms crossed gently over his chest so as to not squash the bundled T-shirt in his hands. His girlfriend let out an exhausted sigh and sat one hand on her cocked hip pinched the bridge of her nose with the other. She had a deadline in less than a week, her fabric shipments were late, and her sewing machine was broken. She didn't have time to deal with…

She took another look at her boyfriend, standing in the doorway of their shared apartment drenched from the rain that had been pouring from the sky since before he'd left for work early that morning. His blonde hair was plastered to his forehead, white cardigan see through against the black shirt he wore beneath that clung to his body. His shoes squished uncomfortably as he shifted his weight to the other foot, looking up at her with huge eyes.

"Not the eyes…" she moaned, trying to force herself not to look into his pitiful green gaze.

She could see a smirk pull at the corner of his lips before vanishing into the pout again. He knew that Marinette couldn't resist the big kitty eyes. She could feel her willpower failing, and she knew he could see it in her body language. Damn animal instincts. _This guy has seen Shrek 2 one too many times to imitate Puss in Boots this well,_ Marinette decided.

The dark haired designer finally released a breath of hot air from her nose, both hands falling at her sides in defeat. "Alright, _fine._ But seriously, this is the _last time,_ understand?"

The smile that lit her boyfriend's face was brighter than any sun. "And _that's_ why I love you."

Marinette rolled her eyes, but let him kiss her briefly before slipping out of his rain-soaked shoes and pattering across the small home to the kitchen table. Marinette eyed the bundle in his arms as he set it down gently and began to unfold the layers of cloth.

Plagg wormed his way out of his human's breast pocket and shivered, toxic green eyes narrowing accusingly at Adrien. "I _told_ him that you would say no," he told Marinette, wrapping his tail around his middle to keep himself warm. "He didn't believe me."

Marinette let out a short laugh and followed Adrien back inside the apartment. "Tikki's in the bedroom if you want to go warm yourself up. I'll bring some cheese for you later."

"Hey Princess, could you warm up some of the milk in the cabinet?" Adrien pointedly ignored Plagg, who had zoomed off to find his fellow kwami, and shrugged off his cardigan, draping it over the back of a chair before peeling back the remaining piece of cloth.

" _Meow_?"

Marinette sneaked a glance at the tiny black kitten that peeked out from the bundle, fur matted and sticking up in all different direction, yellow-green eyes darting across the room observantly. As she rooted through the cabinets, Adrien sat in a chair began to rub the small creature gently with expert hands. Marinette smiled lightly and finally discovered what she was looking for.

"Where did you find it this time?" she asked, beginning to prepare the milk for the small kitten.

"Outside a café on the way home from my latest shoot," Adrien explained, not taking his eyes off his tiny charge. "It was sitting in a box meowing and I couldn't just _leave_ it there…"

At this moment, a nimble fully-grown dark grey cat leaped onto the table next to the black kitten. It had been seeking pats, but upon discovery a tiny creature had intruded upon its domain, it moved toward the tiny fur ball silently, eyeing it with apprehension. The kitten regarded the older cat, boldly not breaking eye contact. The grey cat didn't care for the kitten's display of defiance, batting it sharply on the head as punishment.

"Stormy!" Adrien scolded, pushing the grey cat off the table. "Don't do that!"

Marinette sighed and finished warming the milk, bottling it and bringing back to her concerned boyfriend. "Who's idea was it to name all three of our cats after akuma?"

Adrien accepted the bottle and with practiced ease, cradled the kitten in his hand and began to feed it. Marinette's heart jumped at the tender scene. "Yours, actually." He smirked up at her, eyes glinting. "Pharaoh's name was my idea though. You know ancient Egyptians used to worship cats?"

"They also performed human sacrifice," Marinette shot back with a grin, settling into a chair and watching the tiny kitten suckle the bottle with a ravenous hunger.

"So? Cupids are just chubby babies and people worshipped _them_."

"All babies are chubby."

"I wasn't. I was a super sexy baby."

"Thanks for the image. And here I was hoping to sleep tonight."

Adrien and Marinette devolved into laughter. Cupid darted awake when Marinette's hand accidentally slammed into the table, raised her rust-colored head from its position on the sofa, glaring at her two obnoxious owners across the room. On her other side, the calico cat Pharaoh regarded the laughing humans, decided they were stupid, and continued to cleanse herself, not sparing them a flick of an ear. Stormy was nowhere to be seen, probably hiding out in her usual spot on top of Adrien's wardrobe.

The tiny kitten coughed, deciding it was done eating for now. Marinette had calmed down enough to notice that her boyfriend's body was shaking from something other than laughter. It hit her with a jolt that he had been home for at least thirty minutes and he was still soaking from the rain.

"I'll give the little guy a bath, you go take a shower and clean up before you catch a cold," Marinette said sternly, scooping the kitten from Adrien's grasp.

"But…" Adrien's protest was overruled by a glare from his girlfriend, and he realized it was better to just do as she said. He was pretty cold, anyway…

While Adrien showered, Marinette pulled on gloves to protect herself from any diseases the kitten might carry and began to scrub the tiny creature with special kitten shampoo she had bought after Adrien had come home one night with a random cat in his hands, begging her like a little child to let him keep it. Marinette laughed at the memory, of Plagg floating indignantly at his human's shoulder and insisting there was room for only one cat in this house. She smiled at Cupid, now fully grown and much more healthy than that day. Stormy had arrived a couple months after that, such a sickly little thing that the vet suggested euthanization. Adrien would have none of that, and was proud to have Cat Nurse on his list of accomplishments. So proud in fact, that Pharaoh found her way into their small apartment barely a month after Stormy was deemed at proper health. Plagg still maintained his alpha cat nature amongst his newest feline companions, but Tikki's main concern was keeping out of reach of their batting paws.

Adrien had a soft spot for cats, and Marinette suspected it wasn't just because of his alter ego. While he appreciated the freedom that came with being an alley cat, he also understood the importance of caring for those who couldn't care for themselves. And that was one of the reasons why she loved him so much. His selflessness and caring nature was what had drawn her to him in the first place, the first time she had seen him all those years ago. And now here they were, ten years later, sharing an apartment and hopelessly in love.

Marinette rinsed the last of the shampoo and turned off the faucet, grabbing a fresh towel from the closet and wrapping the kitten in a cleaner and warmer bundle. She tucked it into a padded shoebox, making sure not to cover any of the air holes with blanket, and left it on the counter, adding a bowl of water as a final touch before closing the lid gently for the night. She snapped off her gloves and tossed them into the trash can and grabbed some string cheese and a chocolate chip cookie before making her way back into their shared bedroom.

Adrien had just gotten out of the shower, towel tied loosely around his hips as he dried his messy hair. He looked up as she entered, flashing her a pearly white smile he reserved especially for her. Marinette couldn't help but grin back, not even bothering to try and hide the way her eyes appreciated the perfection that was her model boyfriend and loyal partner, roaming across his broad shoulders and chiseled abdomen. Plagg and Tikki took advantage of her distraction and snatched their respective treats from her hand, retreating quickly into the tiny shoebox they shared as a bed, leaving their chosen to do as they pleased.

Adrein didn't fail to notice the way Marinette's eyes roamed over him hungrily, and he teasingly turned his back to her. "Oh sorry, am I blocking the view?"

"Nope, got a pretty good one from back here."

Their lively banter continued until Marinette took her own shower, playfully declining Adrien's invitation to join her. By the time she got out, he'd already pulled on pants and a thin wife beater and had made himself comfortable in the bed, eyes focused on something on his laptop.

"What's that?" Marinette asked, silently dressing herself and climbing into bed next to him.

Adrien jolted and snapped the screen shut, but not before she caught the name of the website: _Rose de France Engagement Rings._ Her heart began to beat considerably faster, but for his sake pretended not to notice. "N-nothing."

"You're not stalking the Ladyblog again, are you?"

"No!" Adrien protested strongly, placing his laptop aside and turning off the bedside lamp. plunging the room into darkness. "We gotta remember to take the kitten to the vet tomorrow."

Marinette noticed the abrupt subject change, but easily went along with it. "I'm meeting Alya for lunch, I can run it over around then. But I still have three jackets to sew before Saturday and the delivery is behind schedule thanks to that seamstress akuma ruining stock…"

Adrien pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You got this, princess." Marinette pressed herself closer into her boyfriend's arms, resting her head on his chest as his hands came around to hold her gently. "What do you think we should name the kitten?" Adrien asked against the loud drumming of the continuing rain.

"Kung Food," Marinette snickered, suppressing a yawn.

"Oh no," Adrien's nose crinkled. "That was a terrible villain name."

"Are you calling my uncle a terrible villain?"

"No! Remember Hawkmoth comes up with the names, right?"

"Got me there."

"What about Bubbles?"

"Nino would kill us. Wifi?"

" _Alya_ would kill us."

They lapsed into comfortable silence again, the rain outside in tandem with the beating of the young lovers' hearts becoming the perfect lullaby to mark the end of a long day. Marinette had to admit, a break from the stress her latest project had been putting her through was a warm welcome, but nothing quite as warm as the steady beating of Adrien's heart against her ears, and she smiled, eyes drifting closed as sleep began to overcome her senses. Nothing could copy the feeling of –

"I got it."

Adrien's voice was bordering on sleep when he responded. "A name?"

"Copycat."

Adrien blinked, angling his neck so he could barely see the top of Marinette's dark head against his chest. "But there's only one Chat Noir, Princess. And he's right here."

Marinette raised her head, blue eyes meeting green through the darkness. "Exactly, kitty. Copycat. Because nothing beats the original." She pressed her lips against his tenderly, and he returned the contact with the same if not more love that she carried for him.

" _Paw_ -sitively _purr_ -fect," he grinned against her lips, earning him a smack on the shoulder.

"And you were doing so well, too."

He chuckled and relaxed back into the pillows. Marinette pressed a final kiss against his cheek before settling down again and closing her eyes, once again lulling herself to sleep between the synchronized rhythm of heartbeats and rain. She felt one of the cats jump onto the bed by her feet, another curling up on top of his stomach, the last making herself comfortable in the graceful curve of her knees.

Both Adrien and Marinette subconsciously smiled at the familiar feeling, each yawning lightly and burrowing deeper into one another until the rhythmic breath of dreams and rumbling purrs added its piece to the music of the night.

.o0o.

 **It was supposed to be funny and lighthearted and just turned into Adrienette fluff…. Sorry not sorry.**

 **Chapters for other fics coming out soon!**

 **Cheers, 1004-Angel**


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